Our Stories

This is part of a series of stories about women, their accomplishments, their challenges, and how culture has defined them for better or worse. We can’t understand what we stand to lose if we don’t know where we have come from. We can’t chart a path towards a better future if we don’t fight to keep the progress we’ve made and build upon it for a better future for all women and girls.

A one woman army, Doreen Johnson was a tireless advocate for the Green-Duwamish River watershed that flows from the foothills of Mt. Rainier to South Seattle. She served on the Steering Committee to develop the WRIA 9 Salmon
Habitat Plan for recovering the threatened Chinook salmon population of
the Green/Duwamish River. She was instrumental in identifying key
acquisition sites and funding to implement the Salmon Habitat Plan,
namely the acquisitions of the habitat-rich Kanaskat, O’Grady, and
Metzler reaches of the Middle Green River.

Suddenly
there are stories popping up everywhere that are showing us that women
have had a tremendous impact on the world and have done amazing things.
We are mothers, daughters, scientists, doctors, politicians, inventors,
etc. Yet, for most of our lives these stories were not in the
forefront of what we saw and what we were told. We need to know our
power and accomplishments as women. We need role models for our young
girls and women so they know that nothing is beyond their reach.

This is a series of stories about women, their accomplishments,
their challenges, and how culture has defined them for better or worse.
We can’t understand what we stand to lose if we don’t know where we
have come from. We can’t chart a path towards a better future if we
don’t fight to keep the progress we’ve made and build upon it for a
better future for all women and girls. What is your story?

Suddenly
there are stories popping up everywhere that are showing us that women
have had a tremendous impact on the world and have done amazing things.
We are mothers, daughters, scientists, doctors, politicians, inventors,
etc. Yet, for most of our lives these stories were not in the
forefront of what we saw and what we were told. We need to know our
power and accomplishments as women. We need role models for our young
girls and women so they know that nothing is beyond their reach.

This is a series of stories about women, their accomplishments,
their challenges, and how culture has defined them for better or worse.
We can’t understand what we stand to lose if we don’t know where we
have come from. We can’t chart a path towards a better future if we
don’t fight to keep the progress we’ve made and build upon it for a
better future for all women and girls. What is your story?

Want to make sure that the next meeting in the white house making decisions about women is a room full of women? Then support women candidates in your local, city, county, state, and federal governments. We need a more seats at the table!

Interesting line in the article “play it over and over and over and over again, chanting in the ear of the reader: DANGER. DANGER. WARNING. WARNING. NO TIME TO THINK. ALERT. ALERT. PROTECT YOURSELF”.

I realized that a lot of people don’t have training in how to filter out the crisis, hunker down, and get to work. That is what I do for a living. While I can do it on the job it gets a bit harder when I’m dealing with a political crisis such as in this moment in time where I ask myself do I fight or take flight. Every fiber of my being wants to respond in crisis mode. Fight, flee, do something now! I see the results of panic in my job as a paramedic. Bystanders acting irrationally, running around like chickens with their heads cut off, and not able to focus on anything effective.

What I really need to do is acknowledge the event and then come up with a plan on how, from this time forward, I am going to respond to this crisis. If we respond to the tactics that are being deployed, of overwhelming our systems with crisis, we will render our rebellion ineffective. So get active but do it with intent!

We need the front lines of protestors and canaries in the coal mine to sound the alarms about the immediate crisis. Ultimately the long game won’t be won by quick shows of populist revolt.

For most of us our intentional work will be to filter out the millions of Facebook posts and issues and get down to the business of doing something effective. For some that will be calling our elected officials. For others it will be donating money to organizations that are doing critical work to stem the tide of fascism (think red cross for democracy). For others it will be making a firm decision to get involved in either supporting candidates for office or running yourself.

The point is make a concrete effective plan and then take the steps to implement it. Let the chaos reign around you, stay calm, stay focused, and move forward with intent.

They will work to overwhelm you but you have to let go of the things you can not control and focus on the things you can!

My actions with intent for today.

1. Donate to womensmarch.com

2. Sign up and pay for responsible news outlet. I signed on with the Washington Post today.

3. Launched this blog share resources and to tell stories of the women in my life and the real challenges they have had to overcome for being a woman.

4. Support other women today! Donate to the campaign of a women in politics that I support. Today that is Elizabeth Warren and Tulsi Gabbard— you go girls!

5. Ask you to do one thing today with effective intent to support democracy!